Christmas is doing fine – The Ottawa Citizen

There might not be enough snow for snowmen, but there’s a straw man who returns at this time of year no matter the weather. It’s the “war on Christmas,” the tedious complaint of a few politically sensitive Christians who simultaneously insist a) that every home or business owner, regardless of his or her own religious beliefs, should decorate and otherwise make public gestures of support for this Christian holiday, and b) that the holiday is becoming too watered down, too secular, too divorced from Christian theology.

Every decision not to decorate or sing is interpreted as a “ban.” The well-meaning coworker who chirps, “Happy Holidays!” is labelled an anti-Christian bigot. Everyone must decorate. There can be no exceptions. When a school bus company operating in Eastern Ontario forbids decorations in its buses for safety reasons, it isn’t enough for MPP Randy Hillier to criticize the policy, which is indeed overzealous and over-broad. No, he mounts a “pro-Christmas protest” against “this attack on and erosion of our traditions.”

Christmas seems to be doing just fine, with or without Randy Hillier’s support. And there isn’t any lack of people saying “Merry Christmas” in stores and workplaces.

Even this year’s card from Ottawa’s liberal mayor Jim Watson, who one might expect to take extra care to be politically correct, says “Merry Christmas” inside.